Media Evaluation Question 6

In terms of the actual production of Malus I learned a lot about my Nikon D3200 and the ways I can manipulate the features to make the most out of every shot. I was able to change the white balance on the shots in the forest to make it look less bleached and darker. This meant that I could control shadows and noise on the camera a bit more and ultimately get the best shot possible.

Using my Zoom voice recorder on a boom pole I learnt about the trail and error process of capturing sound in accordance to the footage. We had to complete around four takes of each shot to make sure that we got the best quality sound that can be then edited on top of the video footage to get the best effects.

When it came to editing in postproduction we used an apple iMac, which meant that we could use Final Cut Pro to edit together all of our audio and footage. We begun by importing all the footage into Final Cut and went through a process of elimination to extract the best footage with the corresponding audio. Simultaneously we use iMovie to construct additional video footage to go on our blogs for evidence of shooting and use of equipment. Having done this we decided that iMovie would not be suitable for editing the whole opening sequence as it has limited effects and techniques which we require to give Malus the spooky/horror edge it needs.

In Final Cut we learned how to blade and trim clips to get them to work with the sound in the most effective way and use different effects to bleach the video footage, make it darker or make it more genre appropriate. On our first cut we used ‘projector’ as a filter but later decided that it distorted the footage too much and took away the creative edge I had shown in my cinematography,

We also began to edit a sound track on Garage Band but decided that it was too restricting in terms of drumbeats and effects and decided to make a music piece the proper way with instruments and a mixing desk. I learned how to mix and record myself playing guitar and piano as well as using the touch drum pad to create my own drumbeat. I then learned how to put effects on each instrument to make it work with the subject matter of Malus. Finally I learned how to mix and modify the master track and then export it onto a disk and ultimately onto Final Cut Pro.

When designing the logo for our company I used Photoshop on Mac, which again was clearly the best program for this kind of task as it produces quality images and allows me to manipulate it as much as I desire to get the best possible product. I used the overlay and text tool on an imported image and learned to incorporate different filter to make the glitter look black rather than its original colour, which was black.

I used online platforms such as YouTube and WikiHow to get instructions and tutorials to use the likes of Final Cut as I was not completely confident with the

software and I learned how to use my mixing desk to its full capacity by my dad and the instruction manual to give me more scope when recording.